


Take Care

by astraeanyx



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Dancing, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Sickfic, caretaker kenma, kenma is clueless, sick kuroo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24844711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraeanyx/pseuds/astraeanyx
Summary: Kuroo is sick. Kenma is stressed and tries to take care of his sick boyfriend. Key word: tries.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 12
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i honestly do not have an explanation for this i dont know what i was thinking when i wrote this, this is terrible.

Kenma wakes up to the warm feeling of sunlight glinting across his face. He frowns, his cheek pressed against a hard but cool surface. Had he fallen asleep on his desk again? What was the time? He blindly reaches out his arm to grab his phone that ought to be lying somewhere around him. Groggily, he opens his eyes and squints to look at the lit up screen. It was almost 1pm. 

That was pretty late, why hadn’t Kuroo woken him up yet? It wasn’t unusual for Kenma to pass out on his desk, in fact it happened more often than not. And when he did, he would wake up the next day, safely tucked in their bed, all thanks to Kuroo.

Today however the house was unnaturally quiet, with the absence of Kuroo’s completely off-key singing that echoed through every room of the house, every single morning as he would make breakfast. Had he gone out somewhere? It wasn’t like Kuroo to leave like that without dropping Kenma a text, at least.

Tired from not getting enough sleep, Kenma pushes his chair back and stretches. He makes his way to their shared bedroom and sees that the blinds are still down. Again, strange. Kuroo woke up at 8am every morning, often whipping the blinds open, much to Kenma’s annoyance. 

Kenma looks over to the bed and sees the shape of a long figure under the blanket. He would’ve assumed they were just pillows save for the mess of black hair, peeping through amongst the pillows at the head of the bed. 

“Kuro?” Kenma calls, almost in a whisper. 

Had Kuroo not slept well enough last night? 

“Mn?” Kuroo croaks. 

Kenma has heard Kuroo’s morning voice, this was not it. This sounded almost...painful. Kenma frowns. 

He walks over to the bed and sits down. Gently, he pulls down the covers, “You’re going to suffocate like that. Are you okay?”

“Mhm,” Kuroo responds with a sniffle. 

Has he been crying? He tries to get a better look at Kuroo’s eyes but fails to do so since the room is still dark. 

“I’m going to open up the curtains, okay?” 

“Okay.” Kuroo replies feebly.

Once he pulls them open, Kenma climbs onto his side of the bed, next to Kuroo. He pulls the blanket again down to Kuroo’s neck and he sees that Kuroo’s eyes were indeed red. _Oh no._

“Kuro, are you okay? Did something happen, did I do something?” he asks, voice laced with worry. Was it something Kenma had said? Had he did something he wasn’t even aware of. Kenma tries to recall all the things that they might have talked about earlier in the week which might have potentially hurt Kuroo. 

“What, nooo. I’m alright. Think I might be a little sick.” 

“Oh. Do you need to go to the doctor?”

“No, I’ll be fine, just need to rest a little. That’s all.”

He is a little relieved that Kuroo wasn’t upset, that is until he reaches to touch Kuroo’s forehead to push his hair back from his eyes. “You’re really warm,” Kenma observes.

Kuroo is about to respond but he frowns and closes his eyes. One of his hands reach up to press his own forehead. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Head hurts,” is all Kuroo can manage to say as he brings his other hand up to massage his eyes and head. Kenma can tell Kuroo is gritting his teeth from the pain, the color of his face starts to deepen by the second. Panic rises in Kenma’s chest, he wants to help but he doesn’t know what to do.

Kenma and Kuroo had only moved in together a few months ago and this is the first time Kenma has witnessed Kuroo being sick. Throughout the time that Kenma has known Kuroo, the latter has always been the one to take care of his boyfriend. Even during those rare times that Kuroo was sick, when asked about it, he would brush it off or divert their conversation into another topic and Kenma would forget about it. A twinge of guilt twists in Kenma’s gut for not being there for him during all those times. 

But he didn’t have to continue to feel like that. Though he had never done it before, it wasn’t too late. In that moment of realisation, Kenma arrives at a conclusion: he was going to take care of Kuroo. 

He runs to the kitchen to grab a bowl and fills it with some cool water. From one of the shelves he pulls out a soft, white cotton cloth and rushes back into the room. Kenma remembers the feeling of the cold, wet cloth resting on his burning forehead everytime he fell sick and how it helped him cool down. _It should help,_ he thinks.

Kenma wets the cloth, folds it lengthwise and rests it on Kuroo’s forehead. Kuroo who had his eyes closed until then snaps them open from the sudden cooling sensation on his skin. A little _too_ cooling. 

“Kenma.” 

“Hm?”

“What are you doing?” he asks calmly.

“It’s a cold compress, isn’t that what it’s called?”

One would think that with the frequency Kenma fell sick, he would know exactly what to do in a similar situation. Little did they know that Kenma had never paid attention to how exactly he was being treated. He couldn’t, really. Getting sick for Kenma was draining to say the least. To the point, where even opening his eyes would be too exhausting. He’d remain dazed for the majority part of it, only waking up a couple of times in between. 

Kenma has no idea what he’s doing. 

All of that becomes fairly obvious when Kuroo picks up the cloth from his forehead, water still dripping from it. He holds it above the bowl of water next to him and squeezes off the excess water that clings onto the fabric and places it on his forehead again. 

Kenma watches, his ears turning red in embarrassment. _I was supposed to wring it out._

He had never in his life taken care of anybody, ever. Until today. How was he supposed to know these things?

Picking up the cloth from Kuroo’s forehead, he soaks it again to repeat the same process. Properly, this time.

“And Kenma, babe?” 

Kenma straightens his neck to look at Kuroo. 

“You usually do this when someone has a fever and last time I checked, I did not.” 

“But you’re warm!”

“That’s because I’m under four, thick blankets.”

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes, I checked about an hour before you came in. I just have a cold.”

“Oh.”

Not only was that unnecessary, in fact, he probably made it worse if anything. He had a cold, how was exposing him to more cold helpful? He cringes at the thought of the soaking wet cloth resting on Kuroo’s pale face.

Kenma’s guilt comes to a halt when he hears Kuroo cough, loudly. A few times at first and then unceasingly. Kenma can hear the phlegm in his throat as Kuroo struggles to breathe. After a while, the coughing subsides. Kuroo has small tears making their way down to his hair from the intensity of his coughs. 

“Why are you staring at me like that? I’m not dying Kenma,” Kuroo chuckles weakly, still panting from earlier.

“It sounds like you are and I probably helped in speeding up the process,” he responds nervously. 

“It was only for a few seconds, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine,” Kuroo assures.

“You could’ve stopped me before I did it, why didn’t you?”

A sly smile spreads across Kuroo’s face, “I just wanted to see what you were gonna do with it. It was kinda funny.”

Kenma scowls, he didn’t find it funny at all but he doesn’t retort. 

“Can I get you anything? Have you eaten at all? I can make something for you,” Kenma offers, ignoring the previous comment.

“You’re going to cook? For me? Aw, Ken-” Kuroo’s words are interrupted by the onslaught of those terrible coughs again. Kuroo’s face contorts in pain as he wheezes helplessly. Kenma couldn’t stand to see him like this. 

He runs back into the kitchen and starts boiling some water. He looks into the shelves, digging through snacks and sauces. Finally, he finds a few sachets of some tomato soup. Wasting no time, he dumps all the contents of the sachet into the saucepan of now boiling water. 

Was that going to be sufficient? Probably not. What else could he do to help? How do people usually treat colds? He didn’t want to second guess anymore, Kenma whips out his phone from his pocket and types in his question. A number of suggestions pop up, he scans through them making notes of them. His eyes land on one of them.

Tea! 

A cup of tea _and_ a bowl of soup, a whole meal almost! Pleased, he fills up the kettle and turns it on. Kenma spends a good five minutes searching for the teabags, huffing in frustration every time he opens a wrong box and doesn’t find them in it.

The kitchen was foreign territory for Kenma. He hardly ever went in there, Kuroo was the one who cooked and he had enjoyed it. He says it relaxes him. Kenma doesn’t get it because searching for those damn tea bags wasn’t very relaxing to him right now. He feels a little embarrassed because he didn’t know where something as simple as tea was kept, in his own house! Next time Kuroo asks him to give him company while he makes dinner, Kenma is going to say yes. 

Finally, he finds the box of some black tea and plucks out a bag from the lot. The light from the kettle turns off, signalling to Kenma that the water is hot enough. He drops the tea bag into a cup and pours water into it. While it steeps, he decides to look up some more remedies. 

Out of paranoia, Kenma decides to search up Kuroo’s symptoms. Two clicks later, he regrets it. What he finds online is terrifying to say the least. He sees a bunch of possibilities of what he might have contracted, ranging from a simple cold all the way to tuberculosis. Kenma knows better but he can’t help the voice inside his head nagging at him: _what if._ An unsettling feeling forms in the pit of his stomach. 

Kenma doesn’t realise how long it’s been until a faint, smoky smell fills the room, replacing the earlier aromatic fragrance of the tea. He scrunches his nose, ignoring it until he hears a slight sizzling. Suspicious, he walks over to the stove to look at the progress of his soup. The bright red broth bubbles in the pot, Kenma decides to give it a stir and that’s when he sees bits of black slowly rise up the top mixing in with the red. 

After inspecting it for a while longer, he realises that the soup was burnt.

“Shit.” 

Kenma turns the stove off and grabs the ladle in the hopes of saving it but the mixing does more harm than good. He had officially burnt soup. _Who the hell burnt soup?_ Dejected, he drains the pot of the burnt soup into the sink.

He breathes out a tired sigh. He would try making him another pack later, this time following the instructions and not being on his phone. For now, at least he had the tea. Carefully he holds the cup with both hands and walks back to Kuroo. 

“I made some tea for you,” he announces as he enters the room.

“You did? Aw Kenma, look at you taking care of your sick boyfriend.”

“Shut up.”

Kuroo sits up, coughing and clearing his throat every few seconds. Kenma places the warm cup into the other’s hands and sits on the edge of the bed. 

Kuroo blows into the cup, cautiously taking a sip. As soon as he does so, his face turns sour.

“Is it too hot?” 

“No, that’s not it,” he swallows, scrunching his face. “How long did you let the tea bag steep for?” 

“Um, I don’t know? Like ten minutes? Why?”

“Why don’t you try some for yourself?” 

“But you just drank from it, I don’t want your gross germs.” 

“Try it from the other side of the cup then.” 

Kenma hesitates but he ends up trying it anyway. And immediately wishes he hadn’t. 

His mouth fills with, what can only be described is as, bitter water. The tea wasn’t even hot anymore, it was lukewarm which only intensified the unpleasant taste. It’s so strong that Kenma can barely get himself to swallow it and he ends up spitting it back into the cup.

“And I’m the gross one?” 

“There’s no way you were going to drink it anyway.”

“Maybe I would have. You made it with so much love after all,” he teases.

Kenma rolls his eyes. Even when he was sick, Kuroo could be annoying.

Kuroo’s annoying smirk gets wiped right off when he starts coughing again. 

“Maybe you should talk less and rest a little more.” 

With every sign of sickness that Kuroo shows, the level of panic within Kenma rises. Everything he has tried so far has failed, why was it so hard to take care of someone? Did Kuroo go through the same thing every time Kenma was sick? 

"Why do you keep looking at me as if I'm dying?” Kuroo asks voice cracking in all sorts of ways.

Kenma bites his lip. 

"I'm not dying, Kenma!"

“But what if you are?!,” Kenma slightly raises his voice, anxiety coating every word. 

If Kuroo could, he would hold his little boyfriend to reassure him, "Kenma, relax! This happens to you a billion times a year, you should know this."

"It's not the same!” 

Kenma fidgets with his hands, “Plus...you always know what to do."

Kuroo's expression softens.

"I just wish I could help you better- Stop making that face! I’m being serious here!” Kenma complains when he sees Kuroo look at him as if he were looking at a sad puppy.

“I never said you weren’t! It’s just so c-”

“If you call me cute, I’m leaving.”

“You can’t leave! Your poor, little boyfriend is sick!” he cries out dramatically. 

Kenma pretends to leave the room and Kuroo calls after him, “Noooo Kenma, come baaack.”

Kenma doesn’t respond, he just huffs as he walks back to Kuroo who smiles wide. That was enough of troubling Kenma, for now. 

“Since you want to help, can you please get me some vapor rub? It should be in the white box in the closet.” 

-

When Kenma returns with the little blue bottle, Kuroo’s eyes are closed. Kenma is relieved to see that the other is finally asleep again. He needed it.

At first, he decides to keep the bottle next to Kuroo’s pillow but then an alternative thought enters his mind: _What if he helped by putting some on Kuroo instead?_ Surely there was no way he could mess this up, all he had to do was rub some on his chest and forehead, that was easy.

He opens the bottle and makes a face. He had never liked that herbal smell, it made his head spin. But this wasn’t about him right now, it was about helping Kuroo and for Kuroo he would tolerate it.

*

Kuroo opens his eyes to a strange feeling, as if he’s being scratched. He lifts his neck and lowers his eyes. Confusion would be an understatement to describe the way he felt about what he sees. 

He watches Kenma, who is currently sitting on top of him with legs on each side of Kuroo’s body. His eyebrows knit in utmost concentration. He seems to have something metallic in his hand, it appears to be a knife. A butter knife to be exact. Then he sees his boyfriend dipping the knife into a little blue bottle as he scoops up a generous amount of something that resembles petroleum jelly. Kuroo gets a whiff of menthol and watches in bafflement as Kenma neatly spreads the balm all over his naked, exposed chest. 

Kuroo doesn’t even know where to begin with the questions that run through his mind. For a couple of seconds he just stares in disbelief. 

“Kenma,” he says in a low voice. The boy on top of him jolts at his name being called and looks up for a second to acknowledge Kuroo and then resumes. He seemed to be so nonchalant about it, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“I mean to ask you this in the nicest way but what the _fuck_ are you doing?”

“It’s vapor rub, like you had asked earlier. You fell asleep so I thought I’d put some on you. Something wrong?”

Kenma looks genuinely confused as to why Kuroo would find any of this less than normal and it is about to drive Kuroo crazy. 

Kenma looks down and a hint of realisation flashes across his eyes. “Oh.”

 _At least he knew that this was a little weird_ , Kuroo thinks.

“Is it because I unbuttoned your shirt while you were asleep?” 

Kuroo was going to flip the whole house upside down. He hands go up to cover his face from how absurd all of this is but Kenma shouts out, “NO! I put some on your forehead too, don’t touch- I told you not to touch it!” 

Kenma’s warning reaches Kuroo’s ears a little too late, Kuroo ends up rubbing his forehead anyway and Kenma gives him a disapproving look. 

“Kenma! I don’t care about you taking off my shirt, it’s not like it’d be the first time anyway,” Kuroo can’t help that shit-eating grin that comes over his face, Kenma blushes furiously. Kuroo would never miss a chance to fluster the smaller boy. He would tease him some more later, after he got answers to whatever Kenma was doing with the silverware.

“Why the hell do you have a knife in your hand?” 

“Oh, that. I didn’t wanna touch it. I kind of hate the smell and the way it feels on my hand, it’s so sticky.” 

“SO YOU DECIDED TO BUTTER ME UP LIKE I’M SOME KIND OF TOAST?” 

“Calm down, it’s actually pretty neat if you think about it. Look, it spreads so evenly and there is no fear of any mess. More people should be doing this, honestly.” 

“No, they should not! The whole idea of it is to spread some warmth over the sick person’s body, I feel absolutely no warmth right now. That only happens where there’s skin to skin contact.” 

“Literally, no one says or thinks that way.” 

“Well, I do! It’s kind of starting to scratch my skin and the balm makes it burn a little too, you know.”

“What?! Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?” Kenma scolds. 

Kenma immediately sets the knife aside and brings his face closer to Kuroo’s chest to examine if there are any signs of cuts or scratches from it. At this distance, the scent of the is ointment and it almost makes Kenma gag.

“Does my naked chest disgust you that much, Kenma?” 

Kenma’s lips for a straight line as he stoically says, “Yes, that’s what it is. You have weird nipples, what can I say,” he remarks as he pinches one. Kuroo yelps.

“Ugh, now I’ve touched it too. It’s going to take me like three baths to get rid of it now,” Kenma complains.

“You’re so dramatic,” Kuroo chuckles. “Well, now since your hands are already sticky, might as well do it right.”

“No way in hell am I touching more of that.”

“Come on Kenma. It’s not even that bad, plus it’d really help me you know. It has always healed me.”

“I said no.”

“Fine, I’ll do it myself then.” Kuroo says as he grabs the bottle.

“Why do you alway have to be so annoying?” Kenma huffs and rips the little, blue container out of Kuroo’s hands. Reluctantly, Kenma dips his index finger into the bottle, scooping a modest amount of the ointment. Kuroo watches as the smaller boy makes all kinds of disgusted faces above him. Adorable. 

He wipes off the gel from his finger onto Kuroo’s chest. Now comes the hard part, _actually_ spreading it around. With hesitant fingers, Kenma rubs it all over Kuroo’s chest. Kenma’s hands are always so cold, but somehow they feel nice on Kuroos chest. They’re soft and gentle. Kuroo takes a deep breath, inhaling the medicinal fragrance. Maybe it was just in his head but Kuroo thinks he feels better already.

Kenma’s small hands move up to Kuroo’s forehead to rub some on his temples. As he leans over the older, Kuroo looks up and watches Kenma fondly. 

“I can feel you staring at me, creep.”

“I’m allowed to stare at you as much as I want. Also your hair is tickling my nose, if I sneeze all over you don’t blame me.”

Kenma immediately backs away, glaring. 

“I’m going to leave you to rest now, if you need anything send me a text or something, don’t shout. Not good for your throat.” 

As much as Kuroo wanted to refuse and make Kenma stay with him, he did feel tired. Kenma closes the door behind him as he leaves and Kuroo closes his eyes, waiting for sleep to claim him.

Unfortunately, it does not.

Barely five minutes after Kuroo shuts his eyes, he breaks out into a violent fit of coughs. His chest aches and throat burns. Once again he finds himself struggling to breathe. 

Kenma bursts into the room, rushing to get to Kuroo’s side. He slowly lifts him up so he’s in a sitting position and rubs soothing circles on Kuroo’s back and it works. Kuroo stops coughing and breathes in lungfuls of air. Kenma arranges the pillows behind Kuroo for him to lean against. He’s so grateful for Kenma, it was like his presence was what was keeping him alive but Kenma felt differently.

“You look like you’re about to cry again,” Kuroo remarks, looking at the distraught expression on the younger’s face.

This time Kenma doesn’t retort. He bites his lip nervously and looks at Kuroo, worry written all over his face. 

“Hey kitten, relax okay? This happens everytime, it’s normal. I promise.”  
Kenma looks down, as if he didn’t want Kuroo to look at him like that. “Kenma, look at me.” When Kenma still refuses, Kuroo reaches out his hands and holds Kenma’s face and tilts it upwards, to meet his eyes. “I’m going to be okay, okay?” 

“Okay.” Kenma says in a small voice, still not fully convinced. 

*

“What else can I get for you, your highness?” 

“You.”

Kenma tries to ignore the response but his cheeks redden anyway.

“Seriously, you need to get some sleep now.”

“I can’t. If I try, I’m just going to end up coughing again and I can’t sleep sitting up like this.”

“So you’re just going to do nothing?” 

“Pretty much, yeah.” 

“I’ll join then.”

“Huh? What? No, you don’t have to- WAIT KENMA WHAT ARE YOU DOING I’M GOING TO GET YOU SICK TOO!” Kuroo tries to protest as the shorter male climbs onto the bed and makes himself comfortable under the covers, right next to Kuroo. 

“Then you can take care of me when I do.” 

They sit on their bed, cozy under the covers as they watch a movie. Kuroo gives in, his hand wraps around Kenma’s petite figure. Kenma’s cheek is squished against Kuroo’s chest, the whiff of the vapor rub is stronger than like this and Kenma would retreat usually but Kuroo’s warmth manages to make it easier to ignore.

They sit together, cuddled together in silence as they watch the show. A while later, Kuroo brings his hand to his forehead, rubbing circles over his temples as he frowns. 

“Does your head hurt?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Do you want me to massage it a little? I’m not sure if it’d help but-”

Kuroo doesn’t even wait for Kenma to finish his sentence, he places a pillow over Kenma’s lap and lies down on it. “Whenever you’re ready,” he says cheekily.

“I can’t believe I’m offering so many of my services for free today, next time you’re going to have to pay me for stuff like this, you know.” 

Kuroo boops Kenma’s nose, “Sure, sweetheart.” Neither of them plan on following through with their words. 

Kenma’s hands comb through Kuroo’s locks, gently massaging his scalp. Kuroo sinks into the feeling, Kenma is gentle in everything he does. Clumsy perhaps, but always gentle. His fingertips trace patterns on Kuroo’s face, small waves along the lines of his forehead, tiny circles on his cheeks, soft taps on his nose and lips. Kuroo is blissed out, he rests on Kenma’s legs with eyes closed and mouth open. Not too long after, the sound of snoring fills the quiet room. Kuroo was finally asleep. Kenma breathes a sigh of relief. 

He looks down at him, Kenma doesn’t quite understand how someone could manage to look as attractive as he does right now with puffy eyes, chapped lips and nose as red as a tomato. He admires his boyfriend until he notices the trail of drool dripping it’s way down slowly onto Kenma’s exposed knee. He couldn’t move even if he wanted to since Kuroo was lying on him and neither could he stop it. The drop lands on his skin and Kenma chides at an oblivious Kuroo “Gross!” he whispers. 

Still, it was endearing somehow. The raven had struggled to breathe or even talk for a long time all day. His nose was blocked and as strong as he tried to be, Kenma could sense his discomfort. Right now too, he barely had any control over his breathing. His nose was probably completely blocked leaving him no other option than to breathe in through his mouth. A feeling of relief settles in Kenma’s chest, he is still glad that Kuroo wasn’t alone. Not this time at least. In the strangest way, Kenma feels a lot closer to him.

He welcomes the feeling.

*  
Kenma doesn't know when he ends up dozing off too but when he wakes, Kuroo isn't on his lap any more. Rubbing his eyes, he stretches out his limbs and he notices that his legs have gone numb. _Should’ve expected that_ , he guesses. Once they're back to normal again, he climbs down the bed to go looking for Kuroo. 

Unable to find him in the kitchen or the living room, he calls out, "Kuro?"

"Mm?" A muffled voice echoes back.

"In the bathroom!" Kuroo calls out again. 

Kenma walks in to watch Kuroo sitting in the tub filled with water, shoulders slouched. Relaxed. 

"When did you wake up?"

"About a half hour ago. I was feeling kinda gross so I thought I'd take a bath."

"Good, you should feel gross. You drooled on me in your sleep."

"Did I really?" Kenma waits for the shame or an apology, neither of them come. If anything the man looks amused.

Kenma nods. “How are you feeling now? Did you sleep alright?”

“I feel a lot better, my throat feels terrible but other than that, not too bad.”

Kenma remembers something he had read about something to remedy a sore throat. “I’ll be back.”

-

He returns with a cup in his hand and sets it on the ledge of the bathtub. He had accidentally spilled some on himself during his walk from the kitchen to the bathroom so he turns around to grab a towel from one of the cabinets under the sink. 

“You’re supposed to do it thrice a day.” Kenma instructs.

Kuroo looks at the cup, Kenma had made some lime juice for him! It was still warm, he could tell by the steam rising up from it. Drinking this thrice a day was not going to be a problem at all. Careful not to spill, he grabs the cup with both hands, blows on it a few times. Just the thought of the warm liquid making its way down his irritated throat makes his mouth water a little, he could really use something a little soothing like that right now. Without any further hesitation, he takes a big gulp of it. 

Kenma is still wiping his hands and turns around just in time to watch Kuroo spew out a mouthful of water. 

“Why is that so salty?!” Kuroo exclaims, wiping the droplets off his chin. 

“Why did you drink it?! It’s salt water for you to gargle with!” 

“How was I supposed to know that? I thought it was lime juice!” 

“You thought wrong, now gargle and try not to drink it this time.”

*  
Kenma sits in between Kuroo’s legs on the couch in their living room, Kuroo was sick of staying in bed all day and wanted to be literally anywhere else other than that room. Kuroo’s chin rests on Kenma’s head, watching him play on his Nintendo that he had earlier rejected. 

Kenma clicks his tongue, clearly disapproving of whatever was happening on the screen.

Other people would be surprised at how expressive Kenma could get sometimes. Kuroo was one of the very few people who had that privilege. It was probably because Kenma didn't care about a lot of things. He only cared about things he was passionate about. 

Kuroo thinks back to Kenma's scared face as he had watched him cough and sneeze and everything in between. Kuroo giggles and plants a kiss at the top of Kenma's head.

"What is it?" Kenma asks, eyes still glued to the game.

"You were really worried about me today, weren't you?"

Kenma doesn't respond but he does look up from the game.

"Thank you for taking care of me all day," Kuroo mumbles into Kenma's hair. 

“I barely did anything right, if anything I probably made it worse for you."

Kuroo’s hand wrap around Kenma tighter, "Not at all. I think that was the first time I didn't mind being sick, thank you for making my day a lot better.”

Kenma feels his entire body warm up at the words. Kuroo has always been like this: patient and understanding, especially with Kenma. 

The light haired boy keeps the game aside and turns to Kuroo to give him a kiss. Their lips are seconds away from connecting when Kenma's nose twitches. He pulls away and lands a sneeze into his elbow. And then another. And five more continuously after that. 

It wasn’t exactly allergy season but the symptoms of what it could be wasn't unfamiliar to either of them.

"Uh oh," Kuroo watches him with a mix of surprise and affection. "Looks like someone's caught a cold."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter: Where Kuroo is bored and asks Kenma to dance for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to include this in the earlier chapter but thought it might make it weirder than it already was so I decided to add it as a bonus. This way you can feel free to skip it. Again, I have NO idea what was going on in my head when I wrote this and I apologize.

Kuroo blows on some warm soup (this time it’s made right, Kenma had refused to look away from the pot even for a second), as he watches some show that’s playing on the TV. He barely notices Kenma waddling in with something in his hand. It’s his Nintendo Switch. 

“Here,” Kenma holds out the game to Kuroo. “It’ll help distract you.”

Kenma _never_ shared his games, especially not with Kuroo and with valid reason. Everytime Kuroo got his hands on them, he would try to either destroy everything that Kenma built or he'd just completely ignore all the instructions that Kenma would give him and end up doing whatever he pleased. Kenma couldn’t stand to watch either.

So this was a big deal. Kuroo’s eyes widen in surprise as he looks at the game in and back at Kenma. “You’re serious?” He asks still in slight disbelief. Kenma simply nods. Kuroo knows he’s never going to get an opportunity like this probably ever again but he refuses. 

“I don’t feel like it.” 

“This is literally the best distraction I can offer you and you’re declining it?” 

“Yes, I am and no it’s not.”

“You said you were bored and couldn’t sleep. This will help.”

“No it won’t, it strains my eyes and it’s going to make my head hurt so as much as I appreciate it, I don’t want to play video games for now.”

“What do you want me to do, then? Dance for you?” Kenma suggests sarcastically.

Kuroo’s face immediately lights up at the mention of it, he turns to look at Kenma with a blinding gleam in his eyes.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Come on Kenmaaaa, everything else is either boring or makes me feel worse!”

“No.”

“Just a little bit! Here, let me put on some music.”

A smooth, jazzy number starts playing through the speakers. 

“Seriously?” Kenma asks, scoffing. 

“Yes!” Kuroo replies excitedly. 

“I am not dancing for you.” 

“Pleaaassseeee,” Kuroo whines, nasally. “I feel terrible and I just wanna laugh.”

Kenma’s eyes narrow down on Kuroo, who’s comment clearly hits a spot. 

“So you lied to me when you said I danced well, you just want to make fun of me.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” 

Kenma sighs, he knew he wasn’t a great dancer but Kuroo was literally begging with his stupid croaky voice and his stupid snotty face and his stupid puppy dog eyes. Kenma can try all he wants, but just as weak as Kuroo was for him, Kenma was the same for the former. 

“Fine.” He agrees, “But please play anything but that.” 

Kuroo grins wide and scrolls through his phone to choose a new song. His hands finally land on one, his goofy face miserably failing to hide the anticipation. As soon as the first note of the synth sax blares through the room, Kenma groans. Kuroo had chosen this song in particular because he fully knows that Kenma can’t make any excuses now and try to half-ass it. Why? Because they had learned the choreography to the exact song just a few weeks ago. Together.

(Kuroo had come up with the idea. A more exciting way of working out, he had said. Kenma would try to sneak away multiple times but Kuroo would not let him. Often, after they had learnt it, Kuroo would find Kenma swaying and singing along to it if it ever came on shuffle. Kenma wouldn’t admit it but he never once skipped it.)

Kenma stands in front of the foot of the bed with his face in his hands, trying to come up with the courage to somehow do this and get it over with. Once the verse comes in, Kenma shyly raises his hands and moves his feet to the lyrics of the song. He feels his own ears heat up with every move but then realises that there was no need to be shy, it was just Kuroo. Kuroo was familiar.

As the song progresses, he feels more at ease, confident even. A small smile plays on his lips, holding back giggles. He adds a little more energy to his movements, swaying his hips more smoothly, bouncing off the balls of his feet more lightly, hands stronger and more controlled. He was having fun. 

It feels even better when he looks up to see Kuroo mimicking his movements with his hands as he sits and watches Kenma. Kenma was enjoying this as much as Kuroo was. They keep at it until the very last beat of the song. Kenma pants softly, a thin layer of sweat coating his skin. 

Kuroo claps his hands enthusiastically, eyes almost sparkling. “I told you, you were good. Can we make this a weekly thing please?” He makes those puppy dog eyes again. Kenma avoids it on purpose because he knows he won’t be able to refuse. But he doesn’t hate the idea either.

“Only if you promise to join. Properly.”

“Deal!”

**Author's Note:**

> if you actually made it to the end all i have to say is thank you for wasting your time on this and im sorry.
> 
> come talk to me about haikyuu on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/lessgeddit)


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